Photo by Brad Ardley. Left to right / De gauche à droite: Kobalt's / Tom Andrews, Jordan Bent, Domenico Scialo / de Kobalt

SOCAN presents awards to Kobalt Music Publishing

Story by Howard Druckman | Monday May 14th, 2018

SOCAN presented a 2017 SOCAN Award and two No. 1 Song Awards to representatives of Kobalt Music Publishing U.K., at the SOCAN Toronto offices, on May 10, 2018 – while they were visiting our country during Canadian Music Week, to meet with various organizations with which they’re affiliated.

Kobalt was honoured with the International Award from the 2017 Montréal SOCAN Gala, for publishing “Kiss Me,” performed by Olly Murs, and co-written by SOCAN members Yannick Rastogi and Zacharie Raymond, along with Gary Derussy (SACEM), Taio Cruz (PRS), Olly Murs (PRS), Steve Robson (ASCAP), and Lindy Robbins (AMRA).

Kobalt was also recognized with a SOCAN No. 1 Song Award for publishing “Bend,” performed by Ria Mae, which topped the CBC Radio 2 Top 20 chart on July 13, 2017. “Bend” was co-written by Ria Mae, Joel Stouffer, Adam King, and Serena Ryder, and co-published by Nettwerk Music Group Inc., and Universal Music Publishing Group Canada.

Finally, the publisher was honoured, as well, for their work with “Not Nice,” performed by PARTYNEXTDOOR, which peaked on the MuchMusic Countdown on Jan. 20, 2017. “Not Nice” is co-written by PARTYNEXTDOOR, Drake, Noah “40” Shebib, Paul “Nineteen85” Jefferies, Carlo “Illangelo” Montagnese, Andrew “Dre Skull” Hershey (ASCAP), Dwayne “Supa Dups” Chin-Quee (ASCAP), and Adidja “Vybz Kartel” Palmer (BMI). The song is co-published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada, EMI Music Publishing, and Warner Chappell Music Canada Ltd.

SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste; Senior Account Executive, Publishers, Daryl Hamilton; and Assistant Manager, Member Accounts, Gary Laranja presented the honours. SOCAN congratulates Kobalt on these great successes!

Photo by Brad Ardley. Left to right / De gauche à droite: FranicsGotHeat, Aidan D'Aoust of/de la SOCAN

SOCAN hot on the scene at CMW 2018!

Story by Howard Druckman | Tuesday May 15th, 2018

SOCAN was hot on the scene at Canadian Music Week (CMW) 2018 in Toronto, as we presented a “Cookin’ Beats” session with multi-platinum hip-hop and R&B producer FrancisGotHeat; presented a Licensed to Play Award to The Cameron House, of Toronto; co-judged the CMW Startup Launch Pad, providing half of the cash prize to the winner; served on a panel discussion about the effect of music blogs; and hosted a booth at the exhibition hall.

The room was packed for the “Cookin’ Beats” session, on May 12 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel (which hosted the conference portion of CMW), as SOCAN A&R Representative Aidan D’Aoust talked with FrancisGotHeat – who’s created beats and co-produced songs for Drake, Big Sean, Cadence Weapon, and Roy Woods, among others. Using his laptop to illustrate and break down his work on Drake’s “4422 (featuring Sampha)” and Anders’ “Diamonds,” FrancisGotHeat said that he prefers to build songs from scratch rather than adding to an existing track, and that he likes to work in the studio with an act, face-to-face, rather than via e-mail, “so I can feel their vibe.” And he offered this succinct advice to young beat-makers, which earned a laugh: “If you want something to knock more, turn it up.”

Earlier in the week, on May 9, D’Aoust participated in the panel discussion “Digital Content Disruptors – Beyond the Blogs,” talking about the impact of the blogosphere as the main distributor for new music and artists around the world.

On May 11, at the third annual edition of the Live Music Industry Awards at the Sheraton, SOCAN Vice President, Licensing, Leslie Craig presented the SOCAN Licensed to Play Award to Cosmo Ferraro of The Cameron House in Toronto. Craig called The Cameron “a thriving cultural landmark on Queen Street West, and an important hub that’s been bringing live music to the local community since the early ‘80s.”Said Ferraro: “Thank you to SOCAN for helping me to keep the doors open.” Other award winners Licensed to Play by SOCAN included the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Field Trip Music & Arts Festival in Toronto, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.

Cosmo Ferraro

Cosmo Ferraro of The Cameron House accepts the SOCAN Licensed to Play Award from SOCAN’s Leslie Craig (background).

On May 9, SOCAN Chief Membership & Business Development Officer Michael McCarty was one of six judges in the CMW Startup Launch Pad, a “pitch” competition for new Canadian businesses that are based in or connected to the music industry. The Switchboard app won this year’s prize, which consisted of $5,000 cash from SOCAN and $5,000 cash from LyricFind, legal services, strategic consulting services, one-on-one meetings with each of the judges, a 15-minute presentation to the industry during the Global Creators Summit, and a post-conference e-mail blast from CMW after the conference.

From May 8-12, throughout the conferenece, we also hosted the SOCAN booth at the The Sheraton, where several songwriters joined the organization, and various members dropped by to connect, and to grab some sugary candy for fuel.

Photo by courtesy of/courtoisie de Music Managers Forum. From left to right/De gauche à droite: Daniel Caesar, Charlie Andrews (Fondation SOCAN Foundation), Matthew Burnett

SOCAN Foundation sponsors Banner Year Award for Daniel Caesar and his managers/producers/co-writers

Story by Howard Druckman | Thursday May 10th, 2018

The Music Managers Forum (MMF) presented Daniel Caesar and his managers/producers/co-writers Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans with the Banner Year Award – sponsored by The SOCAN Foundation – at the 2018 MMF Honour Roll dinner on May 8, at the Bymark Restaurant in downtown Toronto. Charlie Wall-Andrews, Executive Director of the Foundation, attended the celebratory dinner, held during Canadian Music Week, where the MMF presented the honour to Caesar and Burnett, though Evans was unable to attend.

The award recognizes the meteoric rise of the JUNO-winning, Grammy-nominated R&B and soul singer-songwriter Daniel Caesar this year. Caesar released his critically acclaimed debut album Freudian in 2017. Co-managers Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans also co-produced the album, and co-wrote several of its songs.  Freudian featured the No. 1 Urban AC hit “Get You,” became the No. 1  iTunes R&B/Soul album, and earned national television performances for Caesar in the U.S., on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Late Night with Seth Myers, and one with Chance the Rapper on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Two songs, “Get You,” and “First World Problems” even made it onto former U.S. President Barack Obama’s year-end list for 2017. Caesar’s debut world tour is selling out everywhere, including a five-night run at The Danforth Music Hall, in his hometown of Toronto.

Others recognized at the 2018 MMF event were manager Susan de Cartier, of Starfish Entertainment, who received the Honour Roll Award, and Live Nation Canada chair Riley O’Connor, who garnered the Brian Chater Pioneer Award.

SOCAN congratulates its members Daniel Caesar, Matthew Burnett and Jordan Evans on their latest success!